JPH063531A - Optical fiber holder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the discrete setting of jacket holding power and fiber holding power at optimum values by holding a jacket with one end of an optical fiber holding part and holding the optical fiber with another one end. CONSTITUTION:The right end 31 of the optical fiber holding part 15 rides on a tapered part 20 formed within a sleeve 5 and since a cut groove 26 is formed at the right end 31, the right end 31 is drawn and the jacket 14 of the optical fiber is elastically held and fixed by a top end member 27 and a bottom end member 28. A ferrule 2 is then attached to a jacket holding assembly 39. An internal hole 40 to be inserted with the left shaft 32 of the optical fiber holding part 15 in a press-fitted state is formed in this ferrule 2. A head part 41 having the diameter larger than the diameter of the left shaft 32 is formed in the middle of the axial direction of the cut groove 33 formed in the left end part of the left shaft 32. This head part 41 intrudes into the internal hole 40 of the ferrule 2, thereby elastically deforming the upper shaft piece 42 and lower shaft piece 43 of the cut groove 33 and holding and fixing the optical fiber 13.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber holding device used for an optical connector or the like for connecting an optical fiber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a tubular member has been used as an optical fiber holding device of this type, and the tubular member is adhered to the tubular member with the optical fiber attached and fixed by using a screw. There has been proposed an optical fiber holding device for fixing an optical fiber by an elastic holding material whose one end is processed into a divergent shape (Japanese Patent Application No. 1-91915).

FIG. 11 shows the internal structure of the optical fiber holding device by elastic holding during assembly. The optical fiber holding device 1 shown as this embodiment includes a ferrule 2 for guiding the optical fiber 10 and a fiber strand 1 at the tip of the optical fiber 10.
3, an elastic holding member 3 for holding the elastic holding member 3, a holder 4 for inserting the elastic holding member 3, a sleeve 5 for pressing the elastic holding member 3 inward in the radial direction, a spring 6, a collar 7, and a jacket holding for guiding the covering fiber. It is composed of a tube 8. Here, the central axis of the optical fiber holding device 1 is indicated by l-1.

A cut groove 9 having a predetermined length at one end of the tubular body.
Using the elastic holding material 3 formed into a divergent shape, the optical fiber 10 is inserted inside the tubular body. The elastic holding member 3 is moved by pressing the sleeve 5 toward the ferrule 2 in the direction in which the tip end 11 of the elastic holding member 3 which is split into two diverging shapes and the tapered step 12 inside the pressing tube are opposed to each other. Riding on the tapered step 12, the central axis l-
The tip portion 11 is elastically deformed inward in the direction approaching l, and the optical fiber 10 is held by the load.

[0005]

However, in the optical fiber holding device 1 shown as the prior art, the fiber wire 13 is held and fixed by the elastic holding material 3, but the structure is such that the jacket 14 of the optical fiber is held. Therefore, when a large force is applied to the jacket 14, the force is directly transmitted to the fiber strand 13, and a fiber diameter of about 0.2 mm does not cause any particular problem, but especially the fiber diameter is 0.1 m.
When the value becomes as small as m, there is a disadvantage that fiber cutting occurs due to this force. Therefore, the diameter is 0.1m
Fiber fiber 1 for fiber with small value of m
Since the fiber cutting occurs as described above only by holding only 3, the device has been devised such that the jacket 14 and the jacket holding tube 8 are bonded and fixed together.

However, by doing so, management of the adhesive,
There have been problems such as an increase in adhesive coating, drying, and curing work steps and a defect due to the adhesive wrapping around to other parts.

An object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber holding device that solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above object is to provide an optical fiber holding portion having a hole for inserting an optical fiber and forming cut grooves at both ends, and dividing the shaft into a plurality of shaft pieces by the cut groove and a taper. This is achieved by a sleeve having a hole formed with a portion and a ferrule having a cylindrical hole formed therein.

[0009]

In other words, 1) A state in which the jacket at the tip is removed and an optical fiber with a predetermined length of fiber strand exposed is inserted into the fiber holding part and a sleeve is attached to one end of the fiber holding part. The shaft piece formed at one end of the optical fiber holding part is mounted on the taper part formed in the sleeve by using the shaft piece to hold and fix the jacket of the optical fiber. 2) Optical fiber holding A shaft piece located at the other end is displaced by a cylindrical hole in the ferrule with the ferrule attached to the other end of the section, and the shaft piece has a structure for holding and fixing the optical fiber strand. Achieved by.

[0010]

【Example】

 (1) Overall Configuration A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is an exploded side view of an optical fiber holding device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view before mounting a ferrule, FIG. 3 is a sectional view when a jacket is held, and FIG.
Is a side sectional view showing a state where the ferrule is completely attached in the present embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a state in which the optical fiber holding device is completely assembled. 6 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.
Shows a BB sectional view of FIG. 5, and FIG. 8 shows a CC sectional view of FIG. In addition, here, as a conventional example, parts having the same names as those shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

As shown in FIG. 1, an optical fiber holding device 1 shown as a first embodiment of the present invention comprises a ferrule 2, an optical fiber holding portion 15, a spring 6, a collar 7 and a sleeve 5.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ferrule 2 is formed with an optical fiber passage 16 having substantially the same size as the outer shape of the fiber strand 13 of the optical fiber 10. The sleeve 5 has a large-diameter hole 17 and a small-diameter hole 18 behind the large-diameter hole 17.
Is formed with a stepped hole 19. This small hole 18
Further to the deeper side of the
The taper portion 20 is formed in a direction opposite to the side having the taper so as to have a gradually smaller diameter. On the other hand, the optical fiber holder 1
5 has the structure shown below.

The collar 2 is provided at a substantially central portion of the optical fiber holding portion 15.
1 is formed. If the side of the collar 21 on which the sleeve 5 is mounted is called the right side, a stepped shaft 24 including a large diameter shaft 22 and a small diameter shaft 23 is formed on the right side of the collar 21. Here relates stepped hole 19 of the sleeve 5, the diameter D ₁ of the large-diameter hole 17, relates stepped shaft 24 of diameter D ₂ and the optical fiber holding unit 15 of the small-diameter hole 18, the diameter d of the large diameter shaft 22
₁ and the diameter d ₂ of the small diameter shaft 23, D ₁ ≈d ₁ , D ₂ ≈
d ₂ a and D _1> d _1, and to have a D _2> d ₂ becomes dimensional relation.

At the right end 31 of the small diameter shaft 23, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, a hole 25 having a predetermined depth and a kerf 26 having a predetermined length are formed. Here, a part of the shaft located above the kerf 26 is called an upper end member 27, and a part of the shaft located below is called a lower end member 28. This fiber holder 15
Regarding the sleeve 5 and the sleeve 5, FIG. 3 shows an optical fiber holding device in which the left end 30 of the sleeve 5 is in contact with the right end surface 29 of the collar 21. In this state, the right end 31 of the small-diameter shaft 23 of the optical fiber holding portion 15 is configured to ride on the taper portion 20. On the other hand, regarding the flange 21 of the optical fiber holding portion 15, the ferrule 2 is attached on the left side. This brim 2
A left shaft 32 is formed on the left side of 1, and a cut groove 33 having a predetermined length is formed on the left shaft 32 toward the side where the collar 9 is located from the left end portion thereof. Here, part of the upper shaft of the left shaft 32 is the upper shaft piece 34, and part of the lower shaft is the lower shaft piece 3.
Call it 5.

(2) Interaction The optical fiber holding device 1 having the above construction is assembled by the following procedure. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the sleeve 5, the collar 7, the spring 6, and the optical fiber holding portion 15 are assembled in this order. Here, as shown in the figure, the right end 31 of the optical fiber holding portion 15 is temporarily assembled without being mounted on the taper portion 20 formed inside the sleeve 5, and the holding portion It is called a temporary assembly 36.

For this temporary assembly 36, the jacket 14 is removed at the end of the optical fiber, and the fiber strand 1 of a predetermined length is removed.
The optical fiber with the exposed portion 3 is inserted until the left end 38 of the jacket 14 contacts the bottom portion 37 of the hole 25 as shown in FIG. In this state, the left end 30 of the sleeve 5 is brought into contact with the right end 29 of the collar 21 formed on the optical fiber holding portion 15.

Since the optical fiber holding portion 15 and the sleeve 5 have the above-described structure by this contact, the right end 31 of the optical fiber holding portion 15 rides on the taper portion 20 formed inside the sleeve 5, Since the kerf 26 formed at the right end 31 is formed, the right end 31
Is squeezed, and the upper end member 27 and the lower end member 28 at the right end of the shaft elastically hold and fix the jacket 14 of the optical fiber. In this state, the jacket holding assembly 3
Call it 9. A jacket holding assembly 39 is shown in FIG.

Next, the ferrule 2 is attached to the jacket holding assembly 39. Here, the ferrule 2 is formed with an inner hole 40 into which the left shaft 32 of the optical fiber holder 15 is press-fitted. A head portion 41 having a diameter larger than that of the left shaft 22 is formed in the axial direction of the cut groove 33 formed at the left end portion of the left shaft 32. This head 4
When 1 enters the inner hole 40 of the ferrule 2, the upper shaft piece 42 and the lower shaft piece 43 of the cut groove 33 are elastically deformed to hold and fix the fiber strand 13. At this point, the right end 45 of the ferrule 2 is brought into contact with the left end 44 of the collar 21 of the optical fiber holding portion 15 to complete the assembly of the ferrule 2.
This state is shown in FIG.

The optical fiber strand 13 is, as shown in FIG.
The jacket 14 is peeled in advance so that the fiber strand 13 has an appropriate length so as to project to the left from the left end 46 of the ferrule 2 in a state where the ferrule 2 is assembled.
Then, the fiber strand 13 is cut so as to match the left end surface of the ferrule 2, and the assembly of the optical fiber holding device 1 is completed. This state is shown in FIG.

The optical fiber holding device to which the optical fiber shown in FIG. 5 is assembled will be further described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8 in which cross sections are taken at three points A, B and C.

FIG. 6 shows a cross section of the head portion 41 in a state where the optical fiber holding device 1 is completely assembled.

At the center of the left shaft 32, a groove 47 corresponding to the fiber diameter is formed. In this example, a circular hole is shown, but another shape such as a V groove may be used, and the present invention can be implemented without this groove. The fiber strand 13 is in close contact with the upper shaft piece 42 and the lower shaft piece 43 of the head 41, and is held and fixed by the elastic force of this portion.

In this state, a clearance Δ ₁ (Δ ₁ > 0) is set between the upper shaft piece 42 and the lower shaft piece 43.

Next, FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a portion where the ferrule 2 is mounted and where the cut grooves 26 and 33 are not formed in a state where the optical fiber holding device 1 is assembled.

As can be seen from this figure, the optical fiber holding portion 15 has a hole 48 which is substantially larger than the optical fiber strand 13 inside.

FIG. 8 shows a cross section of a portion riding on the taper 20 at the right end of the optical fiber holding portion.

The upper end member 27 and the lower end member 28 located in the cut groove 26 formed at the right end 31 of the optical fiber holding portion 15 are brought into contact with each other, and the elastic force of this portion holds and fixes the jacket 14 of the optical fiber.

In this state, a clearance Δ ₂ (Δ ₂ > 0) is set between the upper end member 27 and the lower end member 28. Here, the upper end member 27 and the lower end member 28 are shown as cylindrical holes 49 in this example as grooves for holding the jacket 14 of the optical fiber. However, as the grooves, other shapes such as a V groove or It is of course possible to adopt a structure in which no groove is provided.

As described above, in the present invention, the jacket and the fiber wire are elastically held.

Therefore, by pulling out the ferrule 2 and the sleeve 5 from the optical fiber holding portion 15, it is possible to release this elastic force and remove the optical fiber 10 once assembled. Further, the optical fiber holding device 1 that has been once removed can be reassembled by the same procedure as described above.

Here, the following structure may be added so that the outer periphery 52 of the ferrule 2 is not scratched when the ferrule 2 is attached to or detached from the optical fiber holding portion 15.

This is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 as another embodiment of the present invention.

Here, FIG. 9 shows an example in which the groove 50 is formed in a part of the outer periphery 52 of the ferrule 2, and FIG. 10 shows an example in which the flange 51 is provided at the right end portion of the ferrule 2.

With this structure, when the ferrule 2 is attached to or detached from the optical fiber holding portion 15, the groove 50 and the flange 51 are used to attach or detach the ferrule 2 without damaging the outer periphery of the ferrule 2. It is possible.

In the present invention, the optical fiber holding portion 15 is provided with cut grooves at both ends to separate the optical fiber holding portion 15 into a pair of upper and lower shaft pieces. Of course, other than that, it is composed of a plurality of three or more shaft pieces. However, it goes without saying that the same effect can be obtained as shown in the present invention.

As the material of the optical fiber holding portion 15 shown in the present invention, a material having a spring material such as phosphor bronze is generally used. However, in consideration of holding the optical fiber element 13, it is possible to replace it with a soft material metal or a resin material.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, one end of the optical fiber holding portion holds the jacket of the optical fiber and the other end holds the fiber strand.

Therefore, the holding power of the jacket and the holding power of the fiber strand can be individually set to optimum values. Furthermore, holding the jacket is completed simply by mounting the optical fiber holding part and the sleeve, and holding the fiber strand is completed by simply mounting the optical fiber holding part and the ferrule.
A large amount of process time was required for this fixing in the conventional product in which these are bonded and fixed with screws, or in another conventional product in which the fiber strand is elastically held and the jacket is mounted and fixed. This has the effect of being able to be fixed in only one operation and in an extremely short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded side view of an optical fiber holding device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which an optical fiber is temporarily attached to the holding device.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the jacket is held.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where assembly of a ferrule is completed.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the optical fiber holding device is completely assembled.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line C-C of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of an optical fiber holding device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of an optical fiber holding device according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in the course of assembling the conventionally proposed optical fiber holding device.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing an assembled state of the optical fiber holding device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 optical fiber holding device 2 ferrule 5 sleeve 7 color 10 optical fiber 13 fiber strand 14 jacket 15 optical fiber holding part 19 stepped hole 26 kerf

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A holding device for an optical fiber comprising a ferrule, an optical fiber holding portion and a sleeve as main elements, wherein the optical fiber holding portion is provided with a kerf at both ends, and one end is provided with the optical fiber jacket and the other end. An optical fiber holding device, characterized in that the optical fiber strand is held and fixed by. 2. The shaft piece according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber holding portion is divided into a plurality of shaft pieces by a groove formed on a shaft at one end of the optical fiber holding portion, and the optical fiber is attached to the holding device. Is located in a tapered portion formed inside the sleeve, and holds and fixes the sleeve of the optical fiber by the shaft piece. 3. The shaft piece according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber holding portion is divided into a plurality of shaft pieces by a groove formed on a shaft at one end of the optical fiber holding portion, and the optical fiber is attached to the holding device. Is held in contact with the inner diameter of the ferrule, and the optical fiber is fixed by the shaft piece.